Democratic Alliance press release:
By Beverley Schäfer, MPP*
The fact that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced yesterday that the ANC will seek to change Section 25 of the Constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation, before public hearings into the matter had commenced in the Western Cape today, has rendered the people of our province voiceless and helpless on this issue.
It is grossly premature of the ANC to come to this decision without having considered what the people of the Western Cape have to say on the proposal. In essence, the ANC has bulldozed through a policy decision rendering the public hearings nothing more than a costly PR exercise at the taxpayer’s expense.
Furthermore, this decision demonstrates that the ANC continues to undermine democratic processes, resorting to authoritarian-style decision-making in the interests of its electoral prospects and not the people of our country and our province.
Just this week, the International Monetary Fund warned the ANC on forging ahead with land expropriation without compensation as it discredits South Africa’s stated need for foreign investment through policy uncertainty on property rights.
The DA-led Western Cape understands this, and seeks to protect the right to land and property ownership to stimulate foreign investment and drive job-creation. The recent Quarterly Labour Force Survey reinforces this in its revelation that the Western Cape created 40.7% of South Africa’s new jobs in the past year.
The only way to ensure the necessary economic growth and job creation for our country is through the equal access to land tenure for all South Africans by means of enacting Section 25 of the Constitution. The only reason the ANC wants to change the Constitution is because it has failed to uphold it.
The ANC’s rash decision is clearly made out of fear of being punished at the polls for 24 years of severe corruption, maladministration, and constitutional neglect. We do not need a new Constitution, we need a new government.
The DA-led Western Cape will continue to uphold the right to land tenure for each and every South African by means of Section 25 of the Constitution. Our people must get land, but we must protect our economy and the necessary job-creation our residents so desperately need in the process.
- Beverley Schäfer, MPP, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Economic Opportunities, Tourism, and Agriculture.Â
